Detroit to get new daily

Posted by Betsey Reinsborough on November 16, 2009 at 11:30 AM

Brothers Mark and Gary Stern announced Friday that they will begin publishing a daily in Detroit, Michigan, starting 23 November. The Detroit Daily Press, as the new paper will be known, was conceived by the brothers following the announcement that the two major papers in the Detroit area, The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press, would be scaling back home delivery to two and three days a week, respectively.

The announcement has been in the works since June, though technical difficulties caused the launch to be a bit later than the originally intended 60 day timeline.

The daily will cost 50 cents a copy on weekdays and the Sunday edition will be 1$. This is half the price of its two major competitors.

The Sterns also plan to charge only a quarter of their competitors' advertising rates. The brothers say that they have enough capital for two months and need 150 000 subscribers to break even.

The Detroit News has 167 000 subscribers, down 5.9 percent from last year, and the Free Press has 269 000 subscribers, down 9.6 percent.

The new paper will employee 60 people, many of whom are Detroit newspaper veterans. The newspaper will be run out the former offices of The Daily Tribune in Royal Oak, Michigan. The Tribune recently moved into the offices of its sister publication, The Macomb Daily.

The Stern brothers, both Detroit natives, have run newspapers throughout the country since the 1960s. They published in New York, Detroit, and Minneapolis when newspapers in those areas went on strike. They plan to start more dailies in metropolitan areas affected by shut down or scaled back coverage.

Home delivery of the paper will begin 30 November in three Detroit counties.

Sources: AP, Editor & Publisher